In a continuing effort to improve the quality of shipping fruits, I, the inventor, typically hybridize a large number of peach, nectarine, plum, apricot, and cherry seedlings each year. I also grow a lesser number of open pollinated seeds of each of these fruits, usually to capture recessive traits. The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of nectarine tree, which has been denominated varietally as ‘MAJESTIC SWEET’.
During the spring of 1996 I gathered fruit from several different unnamed seedlings in my experimental orchard located near Le Grand, Calif., in Merced County (San Joaquin Valley). One particular group of nectarines was late in maturing, yellow in flesh color, and clingstone in type, and was thus designated as “YNC (OP)”. I removed the seeds from this fruit, stratified, germinated, and grew them as seedlings on their own root in my greenhouse, and upon reaching dormancy that fall I transplanted them to a cultivated area in the experimental orchard described above. During the fruit evaluation season of 2000 I selected the claimed variety as a single tree from this group of “YNC (OP)” described above. Subsequent to origination of the present variety of nectarine tree, I asexually reproduced it by budding and grafting in the experimental orchard described above, and such reproduction of plant and fruit characteristics were true to the original plant in all respects. The reproduction of the variety included the use of ‘Nemaguard’ rootstock (unpatented) upon which the present variety was compatible and true to type.
The present variety is most similar to ‘Sweet August’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,474) nectarine by producing nectarines that are firm in texture, clingstone in type, yellow in flesh color, mostly red in skin color, and sub-acid in flavor, but is distinguished therefrom by being eglandular rather than having globose leaf glands and by producing fruit that is somewhat larger in size, that matures about seven days later, and that is not as susceptible to corking in the flesh.